This month saw a lot of reporting on inadequate internet speeds in rural communities throughout Great Britain. But the news items also show that alternative solutions do exist and provide hope for those who currently cope with slow and unreliable internet speeds.
29 october 2014 – Gigaclear activates rural Oxfordshire pure fibre broadband network
A new pure fibre optic broadband network is bringing ultrafast internet speeds to hundreds of properties in rural Oxfordshire. Uptake of the service has been strong, with over 40 per cent of residents pre-signing – a record for Gigaclear. Read more…
29 october 2014 – Villagers clubbing together to bring superfast broadband to their homes
Neighbours are clubbing together to get superfast broadband because BT would not connect up more than 300 homes in Chalford and Bussage. Read more…
28 october 2014 – Ireland’s future rural broadband speeds may leave Europe in the dust
Top telcos’ technical response to the Irish Government’s National Broadband Plan reveals an ambition to surpass proposed EU speeds, and even reach up to 2.5Gbps in rural areas in the coming years. Read more…
28 october 2014 – Here’s A Map Of Where People Struggle To Watch YouTube Videos
Despite living in an age where you can pay for a baguette with your iPhone, some people in the UK remain in “broadband blackspots” where even watching a YouTube video might be a struggle. While the average Internet speed in the UK is 17.8 Mbsp, many parts of the country suffer from speeds as slow as 4 Mbps to nothing at all. Read more…
25 october 2014 – Church tower project provides rural broadband boost for villages around Framlingham
Although the service does not meet the Government’s 24Mbps download target – which it wants to extend to 95% of the population by 2017 – Mr Leigh argues that speed is not decisive, but that what matters is a stable network with low contention ratios – potential maximum demand measured against actual bandwidth. Read more…
24 october 2014 – Rural broadband: Small providers offer best ‘bang out of your public sector buck’
Independent broadband network providers may be competitors but they are united by an aim to enhance the UK’s infrastructure, the head of a cooperative association has said. Malcolm Corbett, chief executive of the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), said smaller providers are providing solutions to get fibre to difficult-to-reach areas, and so helping to provide the biggest “bang out of your public sector buck”. Read more…
20 october 2014 – Outside the cities and towns, rural Britain’s internet is firmly stuck in the 20th century
The quality of rural internet access in the UK, or lack of it, has long been a bone of contention. The government says “fast, reliable broadband” is essential, but the disparity between urban and rural areas is large and growing, with slow and patchy connections common outside towns and cities. Read more…
16 october 2014 – Internet should be ‘for everybody’ says rural broadband boss
The head of the only rural broadband altnet to secure both public funding and government grant support has discussed how the internet should be “for everybody” – not just those in high infrastructure urban areas. Read more…
14 october 2014 – Rural broadband: Microwave radio link brings fast connection to remote village
A village on the edge of Dartmoor will be one of the first places in the UK to benefit from a new way to get superfast broadband to challenging areas. Households and businesses in the historic village Northlew can now access broadband services at speeds of up to 80Mbps — thanks to a four kilometre microwave radio link, which has replaced the need for a fibre optic cable. According to BT, more than 120 customers — about half of the households and businesses in the village — are already using the technology. Read more…
11 october 2014 – Rural Scotland to lead with ‘white space’ internet
Research at a Scottish university could pave the way for a new “white space” communication network offering improved services to the remotest parts of the country. The University of Strathclyde is overseeing projects to run wireless internet technologies on ferry services and trials of “smart city” technology. It is expected rural communities may be able to use the “white space” to connect to faster broadband speeds. Currently, rural Scotland has far slower speeds than the rest of the UK. Read more…
8 october 2014 – Shropshire and Marches Campaign Gives up Hope of Better Broadband
The Shropshire and Marches Campaign for Better Rural Broadband has announced its withdrawal from the local county broadband partnership, with concerns over attendance, confidentiality clauses, pre-set agendas and politics allegedly hampering their ability to propose and devise new ways of match funding with the Government’s £11.38m Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) grant. Read more…
6 october 2014 – Urban/rural broadband speeds gap ‘narrowing in UK’
The gap between broadband speeds in urban and rural parts of the UK appears to be narrowing, based on the latest figures from Ofcom. According to the media regulator, broadband users in the countryside saw a bigger increase in average speeds in the six months to May 2014 than those living in towns and cities. The average rural connection was capable of delivering 13.6Mb – up by 20 per cent on last November. Read more…
3 october 2014 – UK cable broadband internet speeds ‘faster than fibre’
Internet connections in cable broadband homes are faster on average than those using fibre, Ofcom research suggests. Average cable speeds were measured at 43.3 megabits per second (Mbps), compared with 42 Mbps for fibre. The most common type of broadband ran at 7.4 Mbps, however, and Ofcom found a big difference remained in the average speeds in cities and rural areas. Note: FTTH connections did not feature in Ofcom figures. Read more…
2 october 2014 – Pupils in rural schools in Essex at a disadvantage due to poor internet connections
Pupils are missing out on education opportunities due to poor internet connections in school – and rural Essex has been identified as one of worst regions. Half of pupils in UK state schools have slow broadband or unreliable Wi-Fi, according to a British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) report. Read more…
By using interviews and focus groups this project will focus on how people living and working in rural areas are affected by the unavailability of adequate Internet connections.
